Partition wall seal between the feed and discharge tubes of a column plate

ABSTRACT

A seal for the partition wall between the liquid feed and the discharge tube in columns with circular flow at the contact places of the wall with the column jacket and inner tube is characterized by at least one guide piece fastened to the partition wall with a sealing tongue slidably supported therein, which is pressed by a spring to the column jacket and the inner tube.

4 Sheets-Sheet 1 SEALING TONGUE ,15

PERFORATE PLATE Aug. 22, 1972 w. SPAHN ETAL PARTITION WALL SEAL BETWEEN THE FEED AND DISCHARGE TUBES OF A COLUMN PLATE Filed May 19, 1970 7/1 6 8 o L l 0 L. I 7

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Aug. 22, 1972 w, SPAHN ETAL PARTITION WALL SEAL BETWEEN THE FEED AND DISCHARGE TUBES OF A COLUMN PLATE Filed May 19, 1970 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Aug. 22, 1972 w. SPAHN ETAL PARTITION WALL SEAL BETWEEN THE FEED AND DISCHARGE TUBES OF A COLUMN PLATE 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed May 19, 1970 Aug. 22, 1972 w, SPAHN ETAL PARTITION WALL SEAL BETWEEN THE FEED AND DISCHARGE TUBES OF A COLUMN PLATE 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed May 19, 1970 Fig. 5

United States Patent O 3,686,075 PARTITION WALL SEAL BETWEEN THE FEED AND DISCHARGE TUBES OF A COLUMN PLATE Walter Spalm, Messer Griesheim G.m.b.H., Landstr.

300, Frankfurt am Main, Germany Filed May 19, 1970, Ser. No. 38,723

Claims priority, application Germany, June 3, 1969, P 19 28 179.9 Int. Cl. B01d 3/14 U.S. Cl. 202-158 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A seal for the partition wall between the liquid feed and the discharge tube in columns with circular flow at the contact places of the wall with the column jacket and inner tube is characterized by at least one guide piece fastened to the partition wall with a sealing tongue slidably supported therein, which is pressed by a spring to the column jacket and the inner tube.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION This invention relates to a seal for the partition Wall between the liquid feed and the discharge pipe in columns with circular flow at the contact places of the partition wall with the column jacket and the inner tube.

In columns with circular flow, a partition wall must be located between the liquid feed and the discharge tube of each column plate. This wall serves to prevent a bypass between the liquid feed and the discharge tube, and hence to force the liquid to circulate over the column plate. For this purpose, the partition wall must fit with maximum tightness to the column jacket and the inner tube. This can be obtained easily in many cases by welding or soldering the partition wall to the column jacket. However, there are exceptions. If the material of the column jacket is very different from that of the partition wall; for example, aluminum can be welded only with difficulty, if at all. The same is true if the plates and jackets are made from different materials; for example, if the column jacket is made from steel, and the column plate and partition wall from aluminum. Such a rigid joint raises difiiculties also if large diiferential contractions occur between the column jacket and the rectification plate, as, for example, can happen on starting the column.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION The invention is based on the fact that in the above mentioned cases, a reliable seal is made between the partition wall and the column jacket and the inner tube.

It has been found that the partition wall between the liquid feed and the discharge tube in columns with circular flow can be sealed at the contact places of the partition wall with the column jacket and the inner tube if, according to this invention, one or two guide pieces with sealing tongues sliding in them are fastened to the partition wall, and these tongues are pressed by means of at least one spring to the column jacket and the inner tube.

THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a top view of the liquid feed and the discharge pipe of a column plate with seal according to this invention;

'FIG. 2 is a sectional view along line 2-2 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view along line 33 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view along line 44 in FIG. 2; and

FIG. 5 is a further embodiment of the sealing, according to this invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION In the example, in FIGS. 1 to 4, the column jacket is designated with 1 and the inner tube with 2. The column plate for which the seal, according to this invention is represented, is designated by 3, under which is the column plate 4, and above plate 3, the column plate 5. For the sake of simplicity, the column plates 3, 4, 5 are represented as welded to the column jacket 1, or the inner tube 2. It is known that, especially for large-size columns, the plates are usually supported by rings or flanges. Each column plate has a liquid discharge shaft 7 leading down from any stage leading into a liquid feed chute 6 supplying the next lower stage. The column plates are arranged at a certain angle with respect to one another. The liquid feeds 6 fed by shaft 7 are substantially formed by pans or vessels 8, which are fastened, for example, with rivets 9 to the rectification plates 3, 4, 5. The tops of the pans or vessels 8 in FIG. 1 are indicated with solid and broken lines.

From the above-lying rectification plate 3, the discharge chute 10 projects into the discharge shaft 7 and vessel 8, whereby a wall of the discharge shaft 7 is formed. The discharge chute 10 is also fastened with rivets 11 to the rectification plate 3. To the upstream end of the discharge vessel 8, the partition wall 13 is fastened with rivets 12. Partition wall 13 with its sealing tongue 15, discharge chute 10, column jacket 1, and the inner tube 2 contain the discharge shaft 7.

According to this invention, the guide pieces 14 are welded to the partition wall 13, and the sealing tongues 15 are supported in them in a sliding arrangement, which are pressed by springs 16 to the column jacket 1 and the inner tube 2. The guide pieces 14 can be made from a contoured or shaped sheet metal. The spring 16 can be bent from flat or round material and is formed so that the sealing tongues 15 can be lightly pushed back when the column is assembled. The sealing tongues 15 fit with their lower edges to the rectification plate 3 and their vertical edges to the jacket and tube 2, so that a good sealing is obtained, not only with the column jacket 1 and the inner tube 2, but also with the rectification plate 3.

FIG. 5 shows a slightly different model of seal, according to this invention. In this model, the sealing tongue 15 is supported also in a sliding way in a guide piece 14, but there is only one spring 16 provided here, which presses both sealing tongues 15 to the column jacket 1 or the inner tube 2.

By the sealing according to this invention, especially small possible contractions can occur between the rectification plate and the column jacket. The mounting is simple and can be performed without any special instruments.

What is claimed is:

1. A seal for a radial partition wall between the liquid discharge shaft and the liquid feed chute in gas-liquid contacting columns having a stationary inner tube cylinder and a stationary concentric jacket cylinder and having superimposed, perforate transverse plates peripherally contiguous to said cylinders, wtih circular liquid fiow at the contact places of the sealing tongues with the column jacket cylinder and the inner tube cylinder, characterized by guide piece means fastened to the partition wall, said sealing tongue means slidably supported in said guide piece means, and resilient means pressing said tongue means against the column jacket cylinder and the inner tube cylinder.

2. A seal as set for the in claim 1 wherein said jacket cylinder and said inner tube cylinder and said partition wall are made of dissimilar materials.

3. A seal as set forth in claim 1 wherein said resilient 2,310,829 2/1943 Becker 261-113 means is no thicker than said tongue means. 3,567,232 10/1968 Rickerson 277-148 4. A seal as set forth in claim 1 wherein said guide 3,017,950 1/1962 Koshoot 261--114 X piece means comprises a pair of guide pieces, and said 3,162,700 12/1964 Irons 261-114 zelagliiggpitggsue means comprising a tongue in each of said 5 FOREIGN PATENTS 5. A seal as set forth in claim 4 wherein said resilient 447,858 5/ 1936 Great Britain 202158 means comprising a spring pressing against each tongue. 655,087 1/1938 Germany 6. A seal as set forth in claim 4 wherein said resilient means comprises a single spring reacting against both of 10 NORMAN YUDKOFF Pnmary Exammer said tongues. J. SOF'ER, Assistant Examiner References Cited UJS. CL XR. UNITED STATES PATENTS 261 114 R 1,950,313 3/1934 Linde 261-113 15 2,306,367 1'2/1942 Benson et a1. 261-413 

